Page 65 of Holy Sinner

“Alexia, you okay?”

She gives me a tight smile and then nods. “Yeah, I just, well, I wanted to talk to you.”

“Sure,” I say, even though I don’t know what she could have to say to me. Because I know I should say it, I do. “I’m sorry about…you know, Jane and everything. I know it can’t be easy.” I don’t give a shit if she found Jane’s severed head in her bed so long as she stays away from Kit but a normal person would say they were sorry, so I play along.

Alexia clasps her hands together. “Thank you. I-I still can’t believe she’s gone, you know?”

“What do you mean gone? She’s just missing. We’ll find her.”

Alexia’s eyes cut up to me and her smile wobbles. “You really think that?”

I don’t think that. Not one fucking bit but I don’t let on. Interesting that Alexia has already landed on the fact that Jane is dead but she was the one to find the room. She knows how much blood was there.

“I try to be optimistic about these things. You never know how it’ll go.”

“I guess that’s true. Kit’s lucky to have a man like you in her corner.” We both look towards the cabin and I tense. Alexia reads the movement and holds up her hands. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I know that Holly kind of flew off the handle last night at Kit when they found her in the woods but I know that Kit wouldn’t do something like that. And even if she could, she couldn’t have done what I saw in our room.”

Now she has me interested. I step away from the cabin a few steps, keeping my body loose so it looks like I’m just strolling but now I can see the front door and the side closest to the woods. Nobody is getting the jump on me while I’m talking to Alexia.

“What do you mean? What did you see?”

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. “I-well, there was so much blood. It was all over the walls, like someone had just-just poured her out and smeared it there. It was on the ceiling, Grant.”

“Poured her out?”

“I mean, if it was Jane’s blood. I don’t even…when they questioned me I said it was because what else could it be but now I don’t know. It smelled funny.”

“Funny how?” I press. The jug we found in the woods dances through my mind and I already know what Alexia is going to say it smelled like. “Sugary sweet?” I ask her and she looks at me with wide, surprised eyes.

“Yeah, how did you-it smelled like old pop.”

“Did Holly see it?” I ask.

“Yeah, sh-she was the one that called the cops.”

I let out a sigh and nod. “That’s interesting.” The blood used in movies is mostly corn syrup, sometimes they mix it with blackcurrant juice and jam to give it a stickier, darker look. When I had to use it, it always made my teeth ache and it smelled exactly like Alexia says, old pop. The scent is so sickly sweet that it made me sick, but it’s the only substitute in the business that works as a believable dupe for blood. Whoever took Jane had to be in the film business to have nailed it enough that even Holly was tricked.

Alexia toes the ground at her feet. “You don’t think it’s blood, do you?”

“I don’t, but neither do you, right?”

“Right.”

We stand in silence for a minute, the only sounds are the wind in the trees and the gentle tap of the rain on the ground and the cabin roof. Somewhere in the forest a bird caws, the sound of it acts like a starter pistol.

“I think it’s Holly.”

A split second later, I speak. “Holly is at the top of my list.” The funny thing is that Holly isn’t at the top of my list. I don’t have a fucking list but I know that’s where Alexia’s mind went. Holly is a big fish to her, someone with power and authority to throw around. Alexia would assume she’s the person behind what happened to Jane. If she thinks I agree with her, then we’re on the same team. She’ll trust me more and that trust is what’s going to help me keep Kit safe. The woman is like anyone else, she’s too keyed up about sharing her secret to notice that I was a half second behind her. If the cops interview Alexia, all it will take is her pointing in Holly’s direction to get me what I want, so I smile encouragingly at her.

“It’s okay. I know you feel crazy but you’re not. I think you’re right.”

Alexia claps her hands over her mouth and falls back a step. “Oh fuck. Oh god, I knew it was her and I didn’t know who to tell and now Kit’s getting the blame. You should hear how people are talking about her. I know it’s not true. She couldn’t have done it. Not with the last time I saw Jane. There wasn’t enough time for her to do something like that.”

If I let her tell me what people are saying about Kit, I won’t stay focused. I hold up a hand to stop her from talking. I hone in on the time she’s talking about and start doing the mental math it takes to come up with the timeline of what the fuck happened last night.

When we had Kit, it was just after nine. When I was in the kitchen with Rafe it was midnight. I can see the stove clock in my mind, there’s no doubt about the time. We were only awake for another hour or so. At least Kit was, from the way she was putting the champagne back. I didn’t fall asleep with Kit and Rafe, I never do. I don’t need much sleep, I never have. So at two I was up and walking the cabin to triple check the windows and doors. Then, like clockwork, at four my alarm woke me up.

“When did you see her?”

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